Forget the permutations, we need to win for our fans - Human

The Springboks aren’t interested in permutations - they want to win their final Castle Lager Rugby Championship match in Mbombela on Saturday against Argentina to claim the title for themselves.

Scrum coach Daan Human fronted up on Monday to the media in the Lowveld hub, and said that while the team was very disappointed by the narrow one-point defeat at the hands of los Pumas, they were determined to set things straight in Nelspruit this weekend.

And to take matters further, Human said they owed the country a victory to make up for the defeat.

Human wasn’t shy on talking about the disappointment, even though it would take a catastrophe at home to lose the trophy at this stage of the season. The Boks need one bonus point from the game to claim the Championship they last won in 2019.

“Obviously we’ve been very disappointed. We always knew it was going to be very tough playing them there. There were a couple of guys who played there for the first time, and they didn't know the stadium pressure and for them it was an experience as well. Hopefully for them they would have learnt something from it going forward as well,” he said. 

“We are disappointed and we know there are a lot of areas that we can improve on.”

Human shrugged off the fact that the Boks have one hand on the trophy, and again praised the Pumas for the fight they put up, saying the Boks expected more of the same on Saturday.

“I think there is a great vibe in the team. I wouldn’t say we have a hand on the trophy just yet, we can only get a hand on it if we are able to beat them. We know it will be tough and we are desperate, as they are, and we know they had good results against all three teams. They are in a great place as well. We are 100 percent sure what is waiting for us and what we need to put in place to have a great result against them,” he explained.

“At the moment we are all thinking about one game. We aren’t looking at trophies - that will only happen if we beat them. We must look at ourselves and where we can be better - in all areas - and then everything is possible. 

“But there is going to be a lot of hard work in a very short week that needs to be done before we can beat them. Hard work pays off at the end of the day, whether it is on the field or here, we will need everything to beat them.”

Human said the fact that the test was sold out in Nelspruit put the emphasis on the Boks ensuring that they put in a performance that would please their fans. 

“It’s special to be here (in Nelspruit and back in South Africa) and hopefully we can deliver a good performance for the public,” said Human.“We know the whole country is behind us, and we owe it to them, the supporters that will attend the game on the weekend, and ourselves to bounce back strongly. So, hopefully we can deliver a good performance that can earn us a win and see us win the Rugby Championship.”

Human said while the Boks would start as favourites at home, there was certainly no complacency and he said the Pumas would be tough opposition for them.

“If you get a side that is able to beat all three sides, then yes, the two top teams are at the top of the log at the moment. I’m not saying at all that it was easy against Australia, although we beat them twice there, and we had a bit of luck, but we were able to beat New Zealand twice here.

“We planned to beat them there and we couldn’t. But it hasn’t taken us away from our task. We still need to implement our plan and definitely if there will be changes, then so be it. I think there wasn’t any guy who had a lack of effort out there. We aren’t going to use any excuses. At the end we will work on all aspects to make sure we are better this weekend.”